In the latest flare-up of the cable-age debate about violence in the media, Fox network unveiled a gruesome new show this week, viewers tuned in, and advocacy groups let out a "Scream."

Fox's bloody drama "The Following" fetched strong ratings in its bow Monday night, after being promoted heavily during NFL playoff games. Its buzz as a riveting show has been strong since the network ad "upfront" event many months ago, and "Scream" director Kevin Williamson refused to tone down the gore after the Newtown tragedy.

Parents Television Council President Tim Winter, a longtime critic of profanity, sex scenes and violence on broadcast TV (and basic cable), issued a release saying it was "appalling how Fox is able to ignore its own claims of being a responsible member of the entertainment industry."

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The 9 p.m. Kevin Bacon show attracted 10.4 million viewers, and Fox was able to fetch about $195,000 for each 30-second spot, according to data quoted by Adweek.com, compared to "Revolution," which drew just $90,000 a spot.

In a phone interview this week, the PTC's Melissa Henson said prime time is already violent with procedural shows such as "Criminal Minds," but what is different with this one is "the focus. We're not focused on the good guys ... (but) this really charming, charismatic serial killer who can get his legion of followers to do whatever he tells them to do."

Henson said that shift in focus has changed in popular storytelling. "If you look back at the old NAB (broadcasters association) code of conduct, it stipulated that criminal contact should not be rewarded ... it's not to be glamorized."

She said the networks have a public-interest obligation when they get their broadcast license, but complaints from viewers (which are not frequent, outside of the PTC's) involve a bureaucratic process, she said. "The networks really are not held accountable for that ... obligation."

The debate took a technological detour (some would say dead end) with institution of the V-chip in modern TV sets in the mid-1990s, and one of the two biggest proponents was Connecticut's then-Sen. Joe Lieberman. But the V-chip is largely ignored.

Henson said essentially what the V-chip has done "is given the networks the green light to put that kind of content in there with impunity because they can now say, 'Hey, we told you it was gonna be there.' And in fact that's exactly what we observed, that content became much more explicit, much more graphic, more violent, much more sexually explicit."

In a release from movieguide.org, Ted Baehr, who is commissioner of the Christian Film and Television Commission, said "The Following" "is offensive to the victims of many shootings across America."

The PTC's Winter noted "dozens of gruesome scenes, perhaps the most disturbing to take place featured a young female 'groupie' stripping off her clothes in the middle of the FBI headquarters to reveal a body covered in Edgar Allen Poe verses before committing suicide by shoving what appeared to be an ice pick through her eye."

Henson attributed the big tune-in to the presence of movie star Bacon in the cast.

A Quinnipiac University associate professor said that huge local coverage of Newtown, and entertainment shows like the one on Fox, have a noticeable effect on the nation's collective psyche.

Ben Bogardus said "violent world phenomenon" or syndrome results when people consume a lot of this material.

"And in their minds they start to think the world is an evil place, the world is a dark and scary place," said Bogardus. "In fact, (in general) that's not really reality. The FBI says crime rates have actually gone down over the past few decades."

Obsessive coverage of Newtown, combined with shows like "Criminal Minds," makes people worry about their own situation even though a "school shooting is so extremely rare that young people are actually safe. But they don't think they are," said Bogardus, who has worked as a TV news producer.

The Newtown horror has renewed concerns about children exposed to violent entertainment.

In a letter to the New York Times the other day, Susan Linn, author of "Consuming Kids: The Hostile Takeover of Childhood," wrote that kids can get desensitized to violence.

"Regardless of the role violent media played or didn't play in the tragic Newtown shootings, children are harmed by frequent exposure to movies, video games, music and TV programs that glorify violence. ... We need to stop allowing children to be targets for marketing violent media, and to help parents understand its potential dangers and set limits on its consumption."

The Los Angeles-based PTC (with roots in Virginia, where Henson lives), agrees, asking for Americans to urge Vice President Biden to pressure the entertainment industry on such content.

While the PTC has been criticized for urging censorship, Henson said that's defined as a "prior constraint of free speech. That's not something we do. ... However, when you're using a public resource, you do sort of agree to operate within certain bounds of behavior."

Henson said after Columbine, there were media mea culpas, but not this time -- possibly because the Columbine shooters wore clothes resembling those from a movie. She said the fact remains "we now have more than 30 years of research, more than 3,000 studies, that have drawn a connection between violent media content and ... aggression."